thehawkeye
Mountlake Terrace High School 21801 44th Avenue West Mountlake Terrace | WA | 98043 @MTHSHawkeye | @MTHSports www.TheHawkeye.org V28.07 | 16 April 2013
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Art club leads repainting of murals
Serafina Urrutia | Hawkeye
Senior Kyra Dahlman works on a mural that adorns the walls of the art hallway. She is touching up the bath house from the movie “Spirited Away” created by Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki.
After nearly 50 hours of work from Art Club and the Studio Art class, the makeover is more than halfway complete By Mike Guevarra Hawkeye staff
The walls of the art hallway that have been adorned by student murals for 23 years are in the journey of being repainted by the newly revived Art Club. At the head of this large scale project is the Art Club’s president, senior Louis Mouton, and Art Club’s supervisor art teacher Tim Cashman. Over the past couple decades, the vast collection of
murals in the art hallway painted by former students have grown old, losing connection to today’s students who walk through the art hallway from class to class. “Murals have a five- to 10-year life span due to currentness and connection to people,” Cashman said. Aside from this, the murals became defaced and tarnished over time, suffering injuries ranging from small writings to large holes in its walls. “The administration was asking why people were defacing the walls,” Cashman said. From these problems, repainting
of the art hallway was strongly considered. Mouton, one of Cashman’s art students, learned of this along with other art students toward the end of first semester. It was at that time that the idea of reintroducing the MTHS Art Club came into play. “Art Club was re-invented for the murals,” Mouton explained. From its rise from the grave, Art Club stepped up to face the epic task of repainting the walls of the art hallway. Continued on page 10
Students take pilot tests in English and mathematics By Alyssa Vallester Hawkeye staff
The Smarter Balanced Assessment, a new state test, was piloted on April 9 by the Office of Superintendent for Public Instruction. It is aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and includes both summative and optional interim assessments for instructional use. “I thought [the test] was easy, meaning everything was pretty straight forward and the tools they gave you to use were very helpful. I liked the program,” junior Kelsi Lucier said. Students used computer adaptive testing (CAT) technologies to generate data that teachers and other educators can use to
help students succeed. “I like the test on the computer much more than the tests in the booklets. It’s easier and more put together. I feel like no one can cheat and I don’t have to use a pencil. Typing is way faster,” Lucier said. Ninth graders were tested in English language arts/literacy (ELA/literacy), which started at 7:20 a.m.; while juniors were tested in mathematics, which started at 8:20 a.m. At the same time, tenth graders took the PLAN test, a pre-test for the ACT, in the Theater. Seniors came to school that
morning if they needed additional help and support with their culminating projects. There were different opinions among students about whether the tests were a productive use of their time. Some students decided to not take part in the pilot test, while others simply could not take it because of log-in problems on the computers. “It was pointless to me because we weren’t even getting graded for it and was a waste of knowledge and energy,” freshman Kimberly Yen said. Optional interim assessments are admin-
istered at locally determined intervals and will provide educators with actionable information about student progress throughout the year. A summative assessment is administered during the last 12 weeks of the school year. Both tests will consist of two parts: a computer adaptive test and performance tasks that are taken on a computer, but are not computer adaptive. These tests include extended response and technology enhanced items, while performance tasks allow students to demonstrate critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Continued on page 2